Brown, Bruins beat Jay

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HARTFORD CITY – Luke Brown and the Bruins were aggressive from the start.

They scored on each of their first four possessions and had a comfortable 10-2 advantage.

Once the Patriots started attacking, the deficit was too much to overcome.

And they were bitten again by a poor performance from the free-throw line.

In front of a packed house, including a film crew and producer from ESPN, the Jay County High School's boys basketball team got in too big of a hole early, didn't limit a Bruin shooter like it wanted to and was abysmal from the stripe on Saturday in a 55-40 loss to the Blackford Bruins.

“They were the aggressor in the first half,” said JCHS coach Chris Krieg, whose team falls to 11-5 on the year and travels to Southern Wells on Thursday “We were not the aggressor. We didn't attack their zone at all like we needed to and we dug ourselves a hole.”

The win for Blackford (11-3) snapped a stretch of 20 straight losses to their eastern rival. Blackford's last win against Jay County came March 1, 2002, in the sectional semifinal.

“I am proud of our kids for battling back,” Krieg said. “WE could have folded but we didn't. We battled and that's what we've got to do.”

Michael Schlechty scored the first basket of the game, but then Blackford's Luke Brown and Brandon Stroble took over. Brown made the first of his three 3-pointers to put the Bruins on the board, then after a pair of JCHS misses Stroble scored his first basket of the game. Brown hit a jumper from the right side ot make it 7-2 Blackford ahead of a Stroble trey from the right wing.

Brown, who entered the game as the state's leading scorer with 36.5 points per game after being held to a season low 20 points Friday against Eastbrook, finished with 29 points. Jay County threw a steady diet of Wyatt Geesaman, Landon Grimes and Ryan Schlechty at him, rotating the three as the Patriots battled foul trouble.

Brown had 18 points at half and ended 8-of-21 from the field while going a perfect 10-for-10 from the free-throw line. He matched his second-lowest point total of the year.

Stroble, meanwhile, had 10 of his 15 points in the first half.

“We did a really good job on (Brown),” Krieg said. “What hurt us was Stroble. He came out and he hurt us early.

“For us to win the basketball game we had to contain him and (Dalton Willmann). We did a great job against both of them, (Stroble) just hurt us early)."

Willmann finished with four points.

Blackford was out front 17-6 at the end of the first quarter and went into the break leading 33-17. It led by nearly four touchdowns, 49-26, nearing the end of the third quarter.

Michael Schlechty, who had just two points at half, scored a dozen after the break to lead the Patriots offensively once they began to attack the basket. He had eight points in the fourth quarter alone, and led all players with 11 rebounds.

“I wished Michael would have done that the whole game,” Krieg asid. “It was there, but we were just so timid in passing the ball to the high post. We were really afraid to pass it; you can attack from there.”

While Brown was lights out from the stripe his teammates were just as dominant as the Bruins were 18-of-25. Jay County, on the other hand, had its foul line follies continue as it was 5-of-22 with a pair of lane violations to boot. After Geesaman made his only two points to start the fourth quarter, the Patriots missed the next seven attempts from the line.

“We struggle at he foul line,” Krieg said. “I have athletes. I don't have basketball players.”



Junior varsity

Ethan Dirksen and Brinnin Wasson both reached double figures I helping Jay County improve to 11-3 on the year with a 59-44 win.

The Patriots were out front 14-9 after the first quarter before opening a 27-15 advantage at halftime. They built on the margin during the third quarter by holding a 15-10 edge in scoring for a 42-25 lead with one period to play.

Dirksen finished with 17 points, including a 9-of-10 effort from the free-throw line. He missed his first attempt from the stripe then made nine in a row. Wasson chipped in 14 points, while Quinn Faulkner and Gavin Lambert added nine points each.



Freshman

Jay County lost for the second consecutive night with a 44-22 setback to Blackford.

The Patriots (6-7) led by two after the first quarter and went into intermission tied at 12-all. But they failed to hit the scoreboard during the third quarter, meanwhile the Bruins poured in 17 points.

Adrek Pogue's 11 points led Jay County, which also got four points from Crosby Heniser and three from Adam Muhlenkamp.